1. Technical Field
The present disclosure herein relates to semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices having fine conductive patterns and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor devices enjoy widespread use in the electronics industry because of their scalability, multi-functionality, and relatively low fabrication cost. Semiconductor memory devices in particular are suitable for storing and retrieving large amounts of data. Such semiconductor memory devices can generally be categorized as volatile memory devices or nonvolatile memory devices. Volatile memory devices retain data when powered and lose stored data when their power supply is removed. Volatile memory devices may include, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices and static random access memory (SRAM) devices. In contrast, nonvolatile memory devices retain stored data even when their power supply is removed. Flash memory devices are a typical example of nonvolatile memory devices.
Highly integrated semiconductor memory devices are increasingly in demand with the rapid development of the electronics industry, and therefore are under continuous development. However, the pressures of increased integration lead to challenges in development. For example, increased integration can lead to limitations in improving photolithography processes for defining fine patterns. That is, limitations are present as a result of further reducing the planar areas that the fine patterns are to occupy.